Son Gohan: Secret Agent
by animeneko311
Summary: What happens when the Z Senshi are left to their own devices for 7 long years of peace? Why, create a secret agency to help stop crime of course! Run by Bulma Briefs, Son Gohan is the top agent. His next case: become a student at OSH? NotDorky!Gohan
1. Prologue

Prologue

_Thirteen year old Gohan lay reclining on the front lawn of the Son property. Although he appeared to be nearly asleep, if one were to look closely they would see a vigilant obsidian gaze follow the delighted shrieks of the two year old currently jumping about a few meters away. It was flabbergasting, he concluded, how utterly enthralled one could be with a mere bumblebee. Indeed, as the bee would move to another flower to collect the pollen, Goten would clap and giggle delightedly. _

_"Hoo, boy. This has been a long day._"

_Gohan gazed up at the orange-tinged sky where the setting sun kissed the horizon, and gave a bored sigh._ _He wished he could do something, _anything_, other than this, for while he loved his brother dearly, he wasn't very entertaining at the moment. He had no choice however, so simply hoped that his mother returned soon. Yes. Gohan_ _was stuck with the dreaded task that all older siblings must endure: _

_Babysitting._

_He idly watched a few birds fly overhead singing joyfully, wishing he were up there with them._

_'That cloud kinda looks like Piccolo...' Gohan thought with a tiny grin._

_A sudden shriek and the following wails that followed caused Gohan's head to snap forward, cursing himself for his momentary inattention_. _Gohan flung himself into a standing position and raced over to where Goten sat cradling his hand and sniffling pathetically._

_"Goten! Goten, what happened?"_

_Goten held out his hand, lower lip trembling._

_"Ah, I see. Shh, it's okay, c'mere, lemme see." _

_Gohan gently cradled Goten's hand where a large, angry looking red welt was swelling. Apparently Goten had finally become bored with simply watching the bumblebee and had tried to grab it. It, quite obviously, had stung him. He gathered the toddler into his arms and went inside to gather the first aid kit. Gohan retrieved the pair of tweezers and sat his little brother on the kitchen counter. As the tweezers came closer to Goten's hand he whimpered and Gohan looked up to see Goten watching him with wide, frightened eyes._

_"It's okay, Goten. I won't hurt you. It'll all be over in a few seconds."_

_Goten still didn't look terribly reassured and a few tears leaked down his face._

_"Don't you trust your niichan?" Gohan gave him a wounded look, hoping it would work._

_At this, Goten gave one last sniffle and closed his eyes, waiting for it to be over. Taking this as a 'yes, but I don't have to like it', Gohan quickly removed the stinger with only a quiet sniffle from his charge. Gohan then quickly finished tending to the sting, washing it with soap, and then applying a paste made by mixing baking soda and water to make it a little less painful. Kami knew Gohan knew how to deal with bee stings by now, he liked to explore when he was younger just as much as Goten did. Back when he still had some innocence left... _

_"Wan' Kaasan!" Goten sniffled_.

_'Kaasan,' Gohan started_, _'Yes, where is Kaasan? She left early this morning to do the grocery shopping and now it's after sunset.' Gohan's brow furrowed, beginning to feel a tinge of worry_. _It wasn't like Chichi to be gone for this long without letting Gohan know she'd be back late. In fact, Gohan didn't think she'd _ever_ been out late. Just a few hours here and there, shopping sprees with Bulma. _

_Gohan returned his attention back to Goten as his sobs renewed with vigor, "Ssh, Goten, I'm sure Kaasan will be back soon." As if that was the signal, he heard the whir of a jet copter outside. He plucked Goten off the counter and hoisted him on his hip. As he started for the door, his step faltered, 'But wait a second, we don't have a jet copter.' He reached the door, cautiously opened it and stepped outside, turning slightly sideways so that Goten was partially shielded from view by Gohan's body_. _As the copter settled on the ground, his muscles tensed and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Goten sensed the tension in his older brother and wisely remained silent. His booboo forgotten and body shaking, his eyes would have been almost comically wide were it not for such a potentially dangerous situation. Gohan's eyes narrowed further and was ready to defend his little brother from danger as the door hissed open and out stepped..._

_"Bulma!" Gohan gaped at the blue haired woman_ _emerging from the jet copter, and indeed, now that he perceived no immediate danger, he recognized the Capsule Corps logo on the side. Gohan breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, putting the terrified two year old at ease. 'Geeze Gohan, to many battles to the death with super powerful aliens for you. Paranoid much?' he berated himself. _

_"I haven't seen you in a few weeks! How are you, Trunks, and Vegeta doing? Kaasan's not here right now, she's out–"_

_"Gohan!"_

_Gohan looked closer at Bulma after being interrupted mid-sentence. Her eyes were red-rimmed and she looked near frantic (though trying to hide it), and_ _seemed to be barely holding herself together in their presence. Gohan stared at her, an unwanted lump of fear forming in his belly that spread a numb chill throughout his body._

_"Bumma?" Goten's confused face looked between her and Gohan, not understanding._

_"Come here, Gohan, we have to go." Bulma's voice wavered as she beckoned to Gohan._

_"W-what happened? Where is she? She didn't come home – she didn't call – you never cry – what – she – oh Kami – she – what – Bulma!" _

_Bulma's composure seemed to slip with every word Gohan spoke, confirming for him that which he had suspected. Something had happened to Kaasan._ _His grip on Goten increased_. _Oh Kami, not her too... _

_As a few tears leaked their way down Bulma's cheeks, Gohan came back to himself. His face turned to stone and he stopped his panicked babble. 'I am a warrior. I do not panic, I do not cry. I must be strong. I must be strong for Goten.'_

_"Come, Gohan. Hurry. We must g-go–"_

_"Tell me."_

_Bulma appeared to be taken aback for a moment at his abrupt change of demeanor. One moment he was borderline hysterical, the next he was emotionless; impenetrable as steel. Bulma silently mourned for this extraordinary young man. He had to deal with so much. He was only thirteen, for Kami's sake! He had battled aliens, saved the world, risked his life, lost his father, and now... _

_She gazed into his obsidian eyes; eyes that showed wisdom beyond his years, eyes that had seen too much, eyes that once glittered with joy and innocence, eyes that now stared through her soul, bored into her and demanded the truth. Eyes that dared her to lie..._

_"G-grocery shopping." She finally stammered after a pause. She watched him for a moment and haltingly continued when she saw his jaw clench. She didn't want to make him angry, the last one who did that was Cell... _

_"She was grocery shopping. A...a group of men. There were a lot of people shopping there today, Gohan...they were looking for a large crowd of people– take hostage...they had guns. They locked down the store, no one could get in or out. I don't know what they wanted, when I saw it on the news my mind shut down and I could only hear...I-I think it was something to do with money...they started to get angry when they weren't getting what they wanted so they started shoo–" Bulma gave a choked sob,"There were a lot of police outside...I didn't know...I only just found out about it on the news..."_

_"Bulma."_

_Bulma immediately quieted. She was babbling, she knew it. She looked down at her feet, not wanting to be pierced by that unwavering gaze any longer._

_Outside he appeared unflappable, but inside he was struggling to breathe. 'She's not making any sense, what is she talking about? I don't understand...' Or perhaps he didn't want to understand... Gohan started and loosened his grip on Goten when he heard a small whimper come from the toddler still on his hip. He had unconsciously tightened his grip on him the tenser he became. He glanced at Goten's face which still appeared slightly red from all his earlier crying. He looked confused, but the look of absolute trust on his face nearly took Gohan's breath away. How he could be worthy of such devotion, Gohan would never know, but he resolved then and there to strive to be worthy with every fibre of his being. He didn't realize it then, but it was at that moment that Gohan made a decision that would change the next five years of his life. _

_Gohan squared his shoulders and looked at Bulma._

_"Bulma," he repeated once again._

_She looked up into his eyes and took a deep breath._

_"Your mother, Gohan," she said, "She was shot."_


	2. Chapter One

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dragonball Z, nor am I making any kind of profit on this whatsoever. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction...nor would I be working at Wal-Mart...

Chapter One

The crisp morning air bit dully at his gleaming, sweat-covered skin. The only spectators, as the sun made its glorious debut, were a few red robins who took flight in panic after a particularly vicious jab at the air. _Punch – Kick – Kick – Swipe – Elbow – Dodge – Punch! _Moving at tremendous speeds the focussed young man fought an invisible enemy, never faltering nor pausing for breath. Were one to glimpse him now and see that frighteningly determined and haunted look in his eye, they would never be able to liken him to the ever cheerful and easy-going teenager that seemed to bounce through highschool day after day. Yes indeed, he had joined Orange Star Highschool, rather reluctantly, just three weeks ago.

After a devastating combination of deadly attacks, the young man leapt backwards in a flip and suddenly snapped his hands to his side and began chanting.

"Ka...Me..." A soft glow began to form around his cupped hands as his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Ha...Me..." He continued, as a bead of sweat trickled from his ebony hairline and followed the curve of his nose and hovered, quivering at the tip.

The glow crescendoed into a blinding ball of energy just begging to be released from its confines. He inhaled a deep breath, and just as the bead of sweat finally succumbed and dropped to its doom --

"NIICHAN!"

"Gack!" Gohan squawked and watched in increasing horror as his energy attack suddenly released from his hold and sped off course, heading ominously close to a small dome-shaped house. His eyes caught sight of the kitchen window directly facing him, through which he could see his blissfully unaware mother humming peacefully to herself and finishing off the preparation of breakfast.

He barely had the time to process the panicked thought, 'Will I make it?', before he disappeared and reappeared in front of the blast without even enough time to ready himself, or brace his arms before himself to ease the impact. Pain blossomed in his shoulder before he was jerked to the side with the momentum of the blast and found himself gasping for breath, flat on his back, and with a dazed and pained expression on his face. He lay there gasping on the grass for several seconds and blinked as the face of a sheepish looking Goten hovered over his own.

"Wow, you're fast Niichan!" he giggled nervously.

Gohan's eyes narrowed in irritation and not a little fear as he thought of how horrifically wrong that scenario could have played out.

"Goten! Haven't I told you to never interrupt me when I'm in the middle of training?"

At the sight of Goten's downcast, watering eyes and trembling lower lip, his face softened. Gohan sighed resignedly and frowned.

'Aw, how can I stay mad at him? He's so innocent...just like Dad..." Gohan clamped down on that particular painful line of thought. His father's death at the hands of Cell was still rather painful. "Face it Gohan, he's the only bright part of your day anymore, he's got you at his mercy and you know it.'

Gohan lifted his right arm, his uninjured shoulder, and placed his hand atop his little brother's head.

"Hey, don't worry about it, Squirt. No harm done, yeah? Just try not to let it happen again, okay? Someone could get hurt -- namely me." he muttered to himself as his shoulder twinged painfully.

Goten looked at him with bright eyes and grinned happily now that his niichan wasn't mad at him anymore.

"Boys!" Chichi looked down at them balefully from the kitchen window, "That's enough play! Come in and eat your breakfast before it gets cold! And you, Gohan! You're going to be late if you don't get going!" Chichi disappeared from the window again muttering about troublesome boys and tardiness.

Gohan painfully sat up and rolled his eyes skyward. Ah, blissful ignorance. Oh well, he sure as hell wasn't going to tell her what had almost transpired lest his eardrums be permanently ruptured from the yells of the "banshee". She was always nagging at him to practice further away from the house, but he tended to be rather paranoid. He was loathe to be too far away, thus leaving his family unprotected. Unknown to Chichi, he had Piccolo watch the house while he was at school. After all, he did have a lot of enemies. What she didn't know couldn't hurt her him. Unless...

Gohan eyed Goten who had a wide grin on his face at the thought of food. If anyone were to let something slip about the close call, it would be the little terror, "Hey Goten, let's keep this our little secret, okay?"

Goten, who appeared to have already forgotten due to his preoccupation with aforementioned food, looked puzzled for a few moments before finally understanding and nodding vigorously. He then cheerfully bounded off as he caught whiff of a particularly inviting scent of bacon.

Gohan massaged his temples. This was going to be a long day, he could tell.

He hefted himself up, holding back a wince, and attempted to move around his left shoulder to perhaps loosen it up and lessen the pain. His brow furrowed when he found he couldn't and frowned when he glanced at it. 'Dislocated. Damnit all...' He schooled his features and grasped his shoulder before slamming it into the side of the house. He let out a hiss of pain and relief as his shoulder popped back into place with a decidedly sickening crunch.

"Fantastic." he muttered dryly as he trudged inside to quickly shower, his mood darkening with every step. This day was going downhill fast. He regarded his hideous orange pants and black vest with a possibly more painful wince than when he forced his own joint back into place. 'Ah well, all part of the act I s'pose.' He donned the monstrosity and moved over to his bedside table and opened the drawer, removing a nondescript wooden box. Inside, he removed a small earpiece that once inserted was hardly noticeable. He then placed a small cap on his molar that served as a minuscule microphone, aptly and _originally_ named the 'molar mic'.

"Check, one, two." he intoned quietly.

"Good morning, Gohan!" came the chipper voice of Bulma Briefs. "And how are we this morning?"

"Ugh. Fuckin' morning people." he muttered sourly.

"Eh?" she asked unconcernedly, although they both knew she had heard perfectly clear. He had gained quite the impressive vocabulary from hanging around Capsule Corp, and consequently Vegeta. "Bad morning, Gohan-chan?"

"Indeed."

"I won't ask. Let's just get on with it, shall we?" Gohan merely grunted.

"Right. Well, I've had the team doubling their efforts on finding our guy. Hell if I know why on earth someone'd target OSH -- schoolchildren! – but that's what the Source says and the Source is never wrong." Gohan raised a sarcastic eyebrow. He still didn't know how she could put so much trust into a computer. A really _big_ computer, but a computer nonetheless.

"So basically I'm going into this thing blind. It could be anyone. A student, teacher, or someone I haven't even met yet. We have no idea what he or she looks like, when they will strike, how they will strike, _if they will strike_," he muttered the last rather bitterly, "Or what their motive is in the first place."

"Erm, yep." she chirped. Gohan made no sound for fear of what might come out of his mouth should he open it. 'This is ridiculous!'

"Just bear with me Gohan, these things take time! I'll get the answers. All I know is that something is going to happen at OSH for reasons as yet unknown, and something _will_ happen," she added emphatically, confirming she had heard his bitter remark, "I've been running scans and calculations like crazy, but I just need some more time. Besides, have I failed you yet?"

"No comment."

"Hmph! Don't be such a grump, Gohan!"

"I'm perfectly entitled to being a grump in the mornings considering the excessively cheerful manner I have to uphold during the day." Gohan waited for several moments only hearing the slight clicking of keys before he nonchalantly asked, "So why do _I_ have to do this mission, again?"

"Uh uh! No way, mister! You can't get out of this one! For the last time, you're the only one who can do it! You're the youngest- and the best- and we can't afford to screw up! These are kids, Gohan! Do you really want to see a bunch of teenagers slaughtered? Because that's usually what happens, Gohan. People die."

"Well I dunno, Krillen's pretty short, I think we could pass him off as a teen–"

"Gohan! Not funny! Look- Please, just trust me, like you always have."

Gohan heard the pleading and exasperation in her voice and decided for once to just drop it. "Fine. But I've been there for three weeks already and I haven't seen anything. Well, except for a bubbly blonde, a tomboy, and a rather feminine-lookin' guy who thinks he's good at intimidating me. Thinks he's Kami's gift to all women. Pfft. Pays far too much attention to his hair if you ask me. Waste of space..."

Bulma snickered quietly to herself, the idea of _anyone_ intimidating Gohan was laughable. "You do realize it's ten to nine, right?"

"Balls."

And with that Gohan grabbed his bag and capsule lunch, pecked his mother on the cheek, ruffled his brother's hair, and sped out of his house, having to forgo breakfast. "Bye Kaasan, later Squirt!" He catapulted into the air and was gone in a matter of seconds.

As he sliced through the air, the chill wind biting at his exposed skin, Gohan became lost in his thoughts. Flying always gave him time to think and reflect. He thought back to one of the most horrible moments of his life, when this had all began...

"_Your mother, Gohan," she said, "She's been shot."_

_Gohan's heart stopped beating. Shot? He stared uncomprehendingly at Bulma for several moments as his face drained of any remaining color. Shot? She couldn't have been shot. She wouldn't let herself be shot. Who would dare shoot Chichi? She couldn't be dead. She wouldn't let herself die from a _bullet_, of all things. It was unthinkable. It was impossible. It was almost laughable. This must be a joke. Yes, that's it. A joke. This was a rather mean joke though, wasn't it? Chichi was never mean to her children; she punished them sometimes when they misbehaved (though it was rare, who'd cross Chichi!), but she was never downright mean. Was she punishing them? Where they bad? But still...she wouldn't go this far...What was she playing at! This wasn't funny!_

"_Gohan," Gohan's eyes drifted to her's, and he saw fresh tears course down her face. _

"_Please, we must go. We may not have much time left..."_

_Time? Oh, Kami, this was real. This was actually happening. His mother had been shot. The most formidable woman he had ever known had been shot. But wait...Bulma's words came floating back to him._

'_may not have much time left...'_

_She was not dead! There was still hope! A small spark of life reentered Gohan's eyes. He hoisted Goten, who still remained in a confused silence, higher on his hip and marched steadily over to Bulma where they both silently boarded the copter. It kicked up a whirl of dust as it raised into the air, leaving behind a few curiously silent woodland creatures, and an empty house which seemed to sigh mournfully at its departure._

Gohan was shaken out of his depressing thoughts as the sight of Orange Star Highschool loomed on the horizon. 'Snap out of it, Gohan! It's all in the past, and things eventually worked out.'

Indeed, things _had_ eventually worked out. They had made it to the hospital to see Chichi, though alive, in very bad shape. It turned out she had shielded a young girl, probably around three years old, from the enraged lunatics who were shooting at everyone. Her motherly instincts had kicked in, and likely thinking of Goten who was close to the same age, did what she could. The young girl's mother was nowhere to be seen, and Chichi could only conclude that she had been killed.

Gohan had been correct in his assessment of Chichi. She wouldn't let herself die from a bullet. She had come close, yes, but in the end she had pulled through. She was one strong and determined woman. Indeed, the first thing she had said upon waking and Gohan expressing his fears was, "Unthinkable! Then who would cook my babies' meals?"

Gohan smiled sadly in remembrance of such a typically Chichi-thing to say. 'It happened and there's nothing you can do about that, so do something about what you can, here and now. With his will resolved, he flew a little faster, his determination to help these people glittering in his eyes. He would help them. That is...

If highschool didn't kill him first.

A/N I'd like to thank my reviewers (yay, I have reviewers!) for their kind words, I hope this chapter hasn't disappointed you! I'd especially like to thank Bunny for keeping on my ass to get out this next chapter. Persistent little lagomorph! ...I mean, 'Yes ma'am.'


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